[extropy-chat] Fw: Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Jef Allbright <jef at jefallbright.net> wrote:
> I received my copy of this book from Amazon and it exceeded my
> expectations.
> The first chapter describes what I think are the key issues today in
> undertanding the illusion of self that colors so much of the thinking
> and discussion on this list.  

What I find so odd about Metzinger's thesis as well as that of Jaynes
and others is that the 'proof' they need to support their theory, that
the self is an illusion, they always seem to dredge evidence from
studies of individuals suffering from rare and odd mental disfunctions,
and applying what is learned from such oddities to everyone else
without any sort of logic for doing so. It is like saying that because
genocidists had fulfilling family lives, that everyone with a
fulfilling family life is a genocidist.

Just because some mentally disfunctional individuals exhibit features
that support the idea that THEY have some sort of an illusionary sense
of self does not mean that everyone else's self is equally illusive.

=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
"Fascists are objectively pro-pacifist..."
                                       - Mike Lorrey
Do not label me, I am an ism of one...
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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